


Watch and Learn

by Batdad (MizGoat)



Series: The Quartermaster [3]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Humor, Mentor/Protégé, Slice of Life, original clone character(s) - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 14:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13366854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizGoat/pseuds/Batdad
Summary: Steady is used to dealing with difficult shinnies. Tadhg... isn't. So Steady shows him how it's done.





	Watch and Learn

**Author's Note:**

> I did a bit of art of these two recently, so if you're curious about what they look like check it out: [Link](http://batdad.tumblr.com/post/169601172168/i-felt-bad-cause-i-havent-really-done-much-with)

Steady stifled a flinch as the door to the small office he had commandeered slammed closed.

“How have you never killed any of them?” Tadhg asked, as he leaned heavily against the closed door. “It's counting. How can they be bad at counting? I mean, I know we have inventory droids normally do this, but I'm absolutely certain they could never have gotten off Kamino without being able to count.” His eyebrows were creeping up toward his hairline and his eyes were wide. He was clutching a datapad held in front of his chest so hard that Steady suspected that if he could have seen them under Tadhg’s gloves his knuckles would have been white.

The 212th were currently occupying a small port city that had been evacuated some while earlier due to heavy bombing, but there was a small section of warehouses by the docks which had been relatively unscathed. The first few days had been busy for the quartermaster’s squad. The work of converting mostly intact buildings into a serviceable base of operations wasn’t as exciting as combat, but it was active enough that no one complained. Now though, the quartermaster’s squad was left with the less active task of making sure they had all the needed supplies.

Some of the other NCOs had teased Steady about Tadhg being his padawan, and he had never much found reason to dispute it. Steady had specifically requested that Tadhg be added to his squad because he had the sort of attention to detail that marked him as a worthy successor to the title of quartermaster. And after a few months of reliable help, he’d already recommended that Tadhg get promoted to Corporal, though the recommendation hadn’t been acted upon yet. However it was beginning to become apparent that Tadhg lacked in certain other skills needed for managing the squad that was Commander Cody's dumping ground for shinies who were a little rough around the edges. Well, if Tadhg was his padawan, then Steady supposed he’d have to teach him.

“Let me see what they’ve managed so far,” Steady said and gestured for Tadhg to hand over his data pad.

“I’m almost certain none of it’s accurate. I tried to go behind them to check, but there’s only…” Steady cut him off with a wave of his hand, then reached across the desk and clasped his shoulder.

“Deep breath,” he said then took a deep one himself and tried not to be self conscious about the way the air whistled through his crooked nose. Not for the first time, Steady cursed himself for not getting the medic to set it straight after he had broken it.

Tadhg followed suit, and once Steady was certain that Tadhg wouldn’t hyperventilate, he began looking over the data.

He clenched his jaw a moment, then let out a long low whistle.

“27 blaster charges. For the whole 212th? That’s almost impressive.”

“We have significantly more than that, I promise.” Tadhg’s voice crept up in pitch and speed as he continued. Steady locked eyes with him and nodded slowly.

“But you knew that. Of course. Right.” Tadhg sagged in defeat.

“Come on, I’ll get this sorted,” Steady grinned and motioned for Tadhg to follow.

Once he was standing in the middle of the warehouse floor He straightened up to his full height.

“EVERYONE TO ME.” Steady bit back a grin when he saw that some of the men were actually jogging to meet his request, the poor sods. A quick headcount showed that all seven were there. It should have been nine, but every squad was short handed these days.

“Right, so there are some pretty alarming discrepancies in these inventory reports. I didn't think when we initially set up base here that this specific location would need extra security but at this point I don't think we can rule out the possibility of theft. That means until further notice we're going to have to keep this warehouse under constant watch. There will be three shifts, two men to each shift.” This news was met with a small rumble of complaint that Steady pretended not to hear.

“Haunt and Anton you have first shift. Default and Naught-Three you have second. And Ridge and Karel you have midnights.” This produced further grumbling as they realized he had deliberately split up the squad’s friends and matched most of them with someone they didn’t actually get along with.

“Tadhg and I will finish the inventory counts. If you are not currently on shift you are dismissed. I suggest getting some sleep.”

When they had the warehouse to themselves again Steady turned to Tadhg whose mouth was hanging slightly open.

“Well that should about take care of that,” he said with a grin.

“You’re evil,” Tadhg whispered.

“You wanted to kill them. I just put them on guard duty.” Steady shrugged.

“I wasn’t complaining,” Tadhg replied with a quick shake of his head.

“Anyway, the real hammer is going to drop when we finish the counts and reveal that there were no discrepancies after all and they didn’t need to be on guard duty. They’ll learn.” And so, Steady thought, will you, Tadhg.


End file.
